ARCTIC SEA ICE MELTDOWN--STRIKING 3D VISUALIZATION

The volume of arctic sea ice varies season by season and year by year. Unfortunately, the trend is clearly down, with current ice volume about one-quarter of what it was in 1980. That's not good news, since it's part of a vicious cycle of warming, melting and carbon dioxide release and that impacts the entire northern hemisphere.

NASA finds oldest and thickest Arctic sea ice is melting fastest

Credit: NASA Goddard

You can find more details plus a brilliant 3D visualization of the data -- thanks to physicist and climate expert Joe Romm andmulti-talented IT consultant Andy Lee Robinson -- at this URL.

The loss of Arctic sea ice cover does not only impact polar bears and Inuit communities. Scientists are becoming increasingly sure that a smaller temperature difference between the Arctic and the rest of the northern hemisphere makes for a much wobblier jet stream, which, ironically, can cause much colder winters, for example in the eastern U.S. and the U.K.

For another brilliant--and scary-visualization, check out Ed Hawkins' spiral map of global temperature change from 1850 to 2016. It's the most powerful anti-denial intervention I've ever come across.

Credit: Ed Hawkins